8. The man of many turns

Abstract

Andra, the first word of the Odyssey, announces a poem about ‘man’. The protagonist’s quest for knowledge, his travels, his suffering, and his determination to return to his wife and child are all themes of universal significance: the Odyssey seeks to define what it means to be human. ‘The man of many turns’ explains that andra also refers to one, unnamed, and puzzling individual. It is difficult to know what to make of him, or even pinpoint his identity. That we are dealing with an Odyssey, a ‘poem about Odysseus’, is something we have to work out for ourselves, as we listen to the poet.